suraj.sun writes: Well, it's finally happened — Microsoft's acquisition of Skype has just been finalized, a little more than five months after it was first announced. Under the $8.5 billion deal, Skype CEO Tony Bates will be named president of the new Skype Division of Microsoft, and will have to report directly to Steve Ballmer.

In a post on the Official Microsoft Blog today, Bates seemed unsurprisingly enthusiastic about the acquisition, describing it as a marriage of two "disruptive, innovative, software-oriented companies. Microsoft is committed to the ubiquity of the Skype experience – communication across every device and every platform will remain a primary focus," Bates wrote. "And we've only scratched the surface."